The result was her very first six-pack, a tangible sign of her discipline. She hoped that six-pack would help her make the cut—her own month on the calendar. They greeted team sponsors and Saints employees, but mostly they whispered about who might get a month this year. The first sign of trouble was the team photo—four rows of smiling women in white bikinis—projected across the backdrop of the ballroom stage. Throughout the course of the night, each page of the month calendar was revealed for the first time, January through April Davis, who had a page as a rookie, sat through 11 months, growing anxious as she waited to see if she had made the cut. Relief came with the reveal of December; her photo flashed on screen, in a red bikini, posing on a waterbike. Her chest was back to its normal size—an obvious difference from the group shot plastered on the backdrop of the stage.
Part of the deal is a meeting with the NFL commissioner and league lawyers.
‘Like a Human Barricade’
Two former NFL cheerleaders who are suing the league for discrimination say they are not in it for the money. If they were to meet with Goodell, the women said they hope to address the list of concerns from dozens of cheerleaders, which include allegations of harassment from fans, low pay, long hours and strict rules on everything from weight to social media use. Ware, a Dolphins cheerleader for three seasons beginning in , said she felt compelled to quit a couple of weeks prior to the end of her contract in spring because she felt "she was just not accepted on the team if she was a Christian," according to the complaint filed this month with the Florida State Labor Board. Ware says in the complaint that although she was co-captain of the cheerleading team and a fan favorite she suffered harassment from some representatives of the squad because of her social media postings about her faith. She claims her decision to remain a virgin until marriage also adversely affected her. Ware contends problems began after she posted a photo of her April 10, , baptism on her public Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages. Ware said she had not publicized her decision to wait to have sex until marriage but that the topic had come up months earlier, in fall of , during a conversation with fellow Dolphins cheerleaders in front of other staff. We hold every member of our organization to the same standards and do not discriminate as it relates to gender, race and religious beliefs. Ware alleges in her complaint that in her annual tryout-interview in spring , she was told her she was "not allowed to speak about anything related to her virginity to anyone" and that she "needed to develop into a woman.
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In April , Kristan Ann Ware felt excited as she walked into an annual work review. As a Miami Dolphins cheerleader, Ware had to re-apply for her job every season, but as a performer entering her third year, she only looked forward to a new role and the chance, as a veteran, to give younger teammates guidance. Ware soon realized her interview would not go as she expected. Shortly after it began, according to a complaint Ware filed Wednesday with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, one of her coaches tapped on a stack of papers and said, "Let's talk about your virginity. By the time she left the office, Ware had been told by two coaches she could no longer discuss her personal vow to forego sex before marriage, and she had been photographed in a bikini while trying not to cry. All that formed on my face were tears. Ware lasted one more season as a Dolphins cheerleader, a year she alleges brought her emotional and physical distress. In the complaint, Ware alleges she faced hostility and retaliation from Dolphins cheerleading coaches and was discriminated against on behalf of her gender and religion. She and her lawyer say the NFL could do more to protect cheerleaders, but instead has ignored them.
Professional cheerleaders are in the news these days and we should be thankful. A few examples include:. The suits against the teams describe various indignities that the women faced as cheerleaders, including low pay, ridiculously long hours, and sexual harassment. These developments, while obviously deplorable and certainly deserving of attention on behalf of the women involved, force to the surface a range of smoldering questions that have been screaming for attention for decades:. Our hearts should be broken for these women, but not simply because they were mistreated as cheerleaders. Rather, we should mourn because we created the modern category of professional cheerleader in the first place, then encouraged our daughters and sisters and in some cases wives to aspire to become one—an arrangement that by default does nothing but dehumanize and mentally objectify them from the start. Most junior high and high school—and for the most part, collegiate—cheerleading remains true to its lexical roots: A group of men and women who help lead cheers for the home team crowd, most popularly for football and basketball.
